'82 850G swing arm bearings - $42 each?

[Guest]

Swingarm bearings on an '82 850G are said to last the life of the bike, but on mine, the nut on the right side that holds the tapered bearing came loose. When put up on the centerstand, the real wheel could swing from left to right about an inch. Needless to say the handling around a corner was pretty dicey until I figured out the problem.

The bearings are probably OK, but as loose as it was, they could have been damaged, so I want to replace them. The Suzuki part # is 09265-17012, and ordering two would cost $84 according to the parts fiche. Is there an alternative supplier like McMaster-Carr, and if so does anyone know exactly what I should order?

Also, I was poking around the website using searches on swingarms and found an old post from someone who put a grease zerk in the tube that holds the swingarm bearings, so that the whole tube could be filled up with grease. Does that sound like it's worth the trouble? I'm leaning towards just packing the new bearings with Honda Moly 60. Thanks

[JEEPRUSTY]

I replaced a pair a few years back because the owner of the bike had washed his chain in gas and washed out the bearings.
Alas the owner was is me.
Mine were 32 dollars about 8 yrs ago so yeah inflation and bitter reality sets in.

I think I cross referenced them to the same ID OD spec but could not get the length.

[JEEPRUSTY]

http://www.partsoutlaw.com/oemparts/partsearch/suzuki

cheaper here

Parts Search Results

Part

Price
Qty
Buy

09265-17012
BEARING (17X40X13.25)

$35.91

[bwringer]

The tapered bearings in shaftie swingarms cross-reference to a 30203 bearing number. (17 X 40 X 13.25mm).

McMaster-Carr has these for $30.43 each, and you can find them much cheaper from other bearing suppliers. Brand or origin doesn't matter a whole lot -- these bearings are very understressed compared to their intended uses.


Do NOT use Moly 60 paste in place of bearing grease or any other lubricant. Moly paste has one very specific use -- preventing "fretting" wear between two hard metals in high-pressure stationary contact. It is NOT suitable for assemblies that are intended to move, like wheel or swingarm bearings, and it is highly abrasive to seals.

Use any high-quality waterproof grease -- the most important thing in motorcycle suspensions is that the grease stays in place (suspensions don't generate a lot of heat or operate at high speeds, so they're formulated with environmental stability as the top priority). Any motorcycle/ATV shoppe should have a few excellent choices on the shelf.


Also, bear in mind that chain-drive GS models use relatively fragile needle bearings in their swingarms -- these are the bearings Jeeprusty is talking about. Also, a grease fitting would only work on a chain drive bike -- it would not work on a shaftie swingarm since it's open where the driveshaft goes through.

The tapered bearings used in GS shafties are a far more robust and rarely fail unless they're installed wrong or the grease gets washed out somehow.

There is a specific process for aligning a GS shaftie swingarm -- make sure you follow the procedure in the manual.

Oh, and if you removed the driveshaft, make sure you re-install the driveshaft before the swingarm... DAMHIK...

Also, there are supposed to be rubber caps over the pivot points. If yours are missing, try to find new ones to help keep rain and such out of the bearings.

[DPage]

Thanks everybody for your help. Brian, how do you keep a day job and somehow know engineering terms like what "fretting" is?

I thought using the "best" lubricant I own (Moly 60) would do it, but obviously that's not the case - will get some marine grade grease to pack the bearings.

I found some genuine Timken brand 30203 bearings from Rock Auto for about $18 each, major overkill for this application, but it's a lot better than the $42 Suzuki wants. Based on some searches, generic 30203 bearings (which are more than adequate) can be bought for $5 - $10 each.

[Steve]

Your "best" grease is absolutely GREAT for lubing the splines in the rear wheel and the splines where the driveshaft meets the final drive.
For every other use on the bike, it's probably the WORST grease you can use.

There is a reason that there are so many different lubricants available, each of them has a rather specific use, and will be good in that application, but don't press it into service in other areas.

.

[Nessism]

I've got one of those bearings, and the large swingarm pivot fasteners, in the spares bin. Thought I had two bearings but one came up missing. You can have it for the cost of shipping but you may as well just order new. Those generic bearings would be fine considering the low loads on the bearings in general. I'll bet 99 percent of those bearings fail because of lack of lubrication compared to actually wearing out.